Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

best finish of the year. And Ward, whose one and only su percross wi n came at the Kingdome eigh t years ago, took a hardea rn ed fou rth, jus t ahead of Huffman. As mentioned, Button land ed sixth, followed by a s tea dy Kevin Windham of Team Yam aha , a nd Honda of Troy' s Mike Brown, who ran as high as fifth for mu ch of the race befo re dropping back. Tea m Kawas a ki' s Rya n Hu ghes took ninth, w hile No leen Yam ah a rider Tim Ferry rou nded out the top 10. With th e excep tio n of Wa rd , Team Suz uki had ano ther d isappointing night, as fo rmer 125cc East Coa st cha m pion Mickael Pichon finished 11th - tw o positions ahea d of teammate Greg Albertyn, who, once aga in, tasted d irt on the first lap . Sandwiched between the Suzuki riders at the finish was Team Factory Con nection /Jack in the Box' s Mike laRocco. Far and awa y the most surprising fin,is h of the nigh t was Emig' s. He took the checkered flag in 14th place desp ite completing the first lap in fourth. For Emig , the race was one big downward sp iral. "T'rn definitely di s appointed in myself and wh at's going on ," sa id a very frustrated Emig. "I' m no t ge tting along with my bike at all. I've had some p retty go od fi nish es a t the be ginning of th e year, but. .. my head and my bike aren't workin g togeth er . I'm as strong as I' ve eve r been, but m y mind isn 't working rig ht and, co nseq ue ntly, I'm not riding the bike right. I haven't been clicking all yea r. I'v e go t to come back and try hard er." Perhaps having an eve n worse main even t than Emig was Hond a of Tro y's Mike Craig, wh o finished on the podium just the week before a t Phoenix. Cr aig almost wo n his heat race but tangled with laRocco on the fifth lap in the main, ending any hopes he had of visiting the podium - for the seco nd week in a row. He finished 15th, just ahead of KTM's Lance Smail, who was followed by Kawasa ki of Mexico /Tecat e' s Ph il Lawre nce (w ho crashed on th e fir st lap), Honda rider Heath Voss, Ton y Amaradio and Washington's own Ryan Terlecki. In th e seri es point s ta n d ings , McGrath sits just 12 points ahead of new second -p lace sitter Lu sk, 89-77. Emig slipped back to third with 67 points, followed by Windham with 59 and LaRocco with 53. HEATS Henry pulled off a popular win in the first 250cc heat race, but it wasn't easy fo r th e four-stroke rid er. First, .Henry had to ge t around Emig, and he did so fa irl y quickly, but Craig had a lr ead y opened up a good-sized lead. Unfortu- nat ely for Crai g, it wasn't good enoug h, as Hen ry closed the ga p and pa ssed him tw o laps from the finish . From there, Henry rod e to victory over Craig. Throughout the race, there was plenty of action behind th e two fron t-ru nners, involving Emig, Dam on Huffman , Pi ch on, Lu s k a n d La wren ce . A t one poin t, w hile di cing for third, Emig and Lusk go t a little too close an d Lusk suddenlv went d own. . "I ran Ezra to the o utsi de. of the whoo ps, off the mai n line int o the loose stuff and deep w hoo ps," Ernig said . "His fro nt wh eel fell into the whoo ps and his bike jus t stopped." Hu ffm an a n d Pich on both pl owed into Lusk's downed Honda and crashed as well. Emi g s u d de n ly foun d him s elf a ll alo ne and wen t on to finish third, ahead o f Law rence, w ho was follow ed across the line by Pichon, Lusk, Smail, Hu ffman and Ferry . Windham took th e holeshot in th e second heat race, but Button had control of the lead before the first lap wa s completed. Brow n was running up front on the first lap until he crashed off the track a nd mowed over an AMA official. Neither Brown nor the official we re hurt. Hughes passed Button on the second lap, but Button p assed him back a lap later. Bu t the rid er on the move was McGrath , wh o h ad go t te n off to a fourt h-place start. He first p assed Windh am , then Hu g h es, a nd th en se t his sig hts on his Cha pa rral team ma te, Button. . McGrath a nd Bu tt on battled back and forth until McGrath put the finishing tou ches on his friend through a turn, cutting und ern eat h Button and driving him wide. McGrath went on to take the wi n, w hile Button took second . Third we nt to Windham , while Ward finis hed a d ista nt fou rth - though still a long way ahea d of his Suzuki teammate Albertyn. Hugh es ended u p finis hing eight h after crashi ng hard over a tabletop, an d laRocco was ano ther non qu alifier. SEMI The first semi came d own to a las tlap duel between Lusk and Huffma n. After a sho rt confrontation with Ferry, Lusk took solid control of first pla ce, but Huffma n was charging and inherited secon d when Pi ch on washed out in a turn and crashed . Huffman then closed to within a few inches of Lusk, and the tw o riders battled the rest of th e way. On the last lap, Huffman pulled alongside Lusk in a section of whoops a nd then dived to the insid e of the last turn. The two riders launched off the finish- (Above left) Jimmy Button (11) passed McGrath on the fi rst lap and led for fou r laps. (Above right) Doug Henry made the podi um with a third-pl ace finish. (Right) Suzuki 's Larry Ward (4), here lead ing Lu sk, took fourth. line jum p sid e by sid e in a phot o finish. Lusk was awarded the wi n, while third p la ce we n t to Ferry, wh o ac tua lly passed Lusk for the lead on the first lap befo re d roppi ng back. Suz uki rid er Terlecki finis hed in fourth, just a head of Pichon. It was a th ree-way d ogfigh t in th e second semi involving Hu gh es, Brown and Albertyn. Positions changed no less than seven times among these three riders throughou t the course of th e race. Hughes ended up taking th e win, followed by Brown, Albertyn and Ho nda rider Voss, who held off la Rocco. Oregon's La nce Sma il ca me from behind to win the last-chance quali fier, while A maradio a n d Ya ma ha ride r Takeshi Koiked a fough t tooth a nd na il over th e fina l tr ans fer p osition of th e • night. Th e two riders swapped position s back and for th u ntil Ama rad io go t the upper hand for a trip to the main. MAIN McGrath pulled the hol eshot in th e 20-lap feature only to see his teammate Button rail a ro u nd him shortly th er eafter . " I go t a grea t hol es h ot ," McGrath said . "I was off the line like a madman the bike was excelle nt. Man, Button got a go od d rive on the first lap and went around me through the wh oops." By the time the first lap was complet- ed , Button had taken control, foll owed by McGrath, Ward, Emig , Henry, Lusk, Brown and Windham. Trailing the pack wer e Albertyn and Lawrence, wh o sa id the tw o go t togeth er and went dow n. "Th is is the third race so far that I' ve bee n last befor e the fifth lap," Law rence said . "1 feel great and have been riding well, but I can' t seem to get past the first lap withou t so mething ha ppening." Pretty soon, Lusk went down in a turn wh ile trying to pas s Emig a n d dropped to abou t 17th p lace, wh er e he began his cha rge through the pack. Up front , McGra t h w a s mak ing attem pts to pass Button, but Button was holdin g his ground . It wasn' t un til the fifth lap that McGra th was able to make his move, execu ting a clean. pass on his Chaparral teammate. "I kind of followed But ton - he was riding reall y goo d ," McGrath sa id. "I took my tim e and finall y wen t around hi ." im From th ere, th e r ac e was all McGrath's , as he qu ickly opened up a small lead - a lead tha t he would never relinquish . "I tried to reall y focu s on breathing and jus t riding the track, and that' s what I did," McGrath said . "I tried sprinting as lon g as I could and then I set a pace." Button cruised all al on e in second place for mo st o f th e race and wasn't ~eally challenged until the last few lap s. 5

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